Tuesday, 27 January 2015

I
recently had the opportunity to work with the Community Outreach Officer and a
group of adults with learning difficulties at the Museum of Natural History
learning all about minerals. The group consisted of adults with a varying range
of learning difficulties and their support staff. Some support staff looked
after more than one adult when others had one to one support depending on their
level of need. Having this wide range meant tailoring the delivery so everyone
had a level of understanding. Therefore the session was made up of several
learning styles allowing participating adults to achieve different aims,
including learning, enjoyment, inclusivity and social.

The
group was together in a semi-circle facing not only the education officer but
also one another. Having this set-up made it more sociable and put everyone on
an equal level. It made it easy to talk and discuss, both with the museum staff
and everybody in the group. The semi-circle was facing a PowerPoint
presentation of minerals which had many vibrant pictures. Whilst each slide was
up we also had a plethora of minerals for the group to handle and
contextualised the minerals by asking questions and relating them to similar things
they use in their lives, i.e. salt on chips. That way they could see and touch
the minerals we were talking about in the pictures.

Small selection of the minerals that were handled

Towards
the end of the first half of the session we passed out chunks of Crunchie bars
and Mars bars. The Crunchie bar gave a great visualisation of what the inside
of an igneous rock looks like, full of air to make it light. The Mars bar was
both sedimentary and metamorphic as when you first look at the chunk of candy
bar you can see its layers – chocolate, nugget and caramel, but then when you
apply pressure and squeeze it together it changes, it doesn’t look the same
anymore, therefore it is now a metamorphic rock. It also made a great
transition into a snack break.

The
second half of the session was making bling! The Museum of Natural History
donated a bunch of minerals to the outreach team specifically for this session.
Most of the minerals started out as large chunks about the size of an adult
fist, but after being prepared by the education officer before the session with
a special rock splitter, we were able to use them for necklaces and key rings.
Each member of the group got to choose one or two pieces of mineral, cord, and
wire.

The selection for making bling

With
the help of their support staff, the museum staff and volunteers everyone left
with at least one piece of beautiful museum mineral bling!

I
really enjoyed this session and it was because of the excitement and enthusiasm
of the group. It was easy to see that they got a lot out of the session. It was
not just about learning the different kinds of rocks and minerals the museum
has in its collection. It was also a social gathering to talk to people you already
know or just met that day. It was an opportunity to handle real minerals like
rubies and emeralds and talk about which one was your favourite and why. It was
a unique session that allowed you to work with your hands and leave with a
piece of bling that was not only symbolic of the museum but also what you were
able to create. And through all of that and all the fun we had we were
promoting health and well being without it being apparent.

Completed pieces of jewellery by the group

Museums
are unique places that can offer unrivalled opportunities for everyone in their
community. We are not just institutions of formal learning. We can offer that
and so much more with just a bit of teamwork between departments and creativity
with groups. We really can change people’s lives and this session is just one
example. I have to say, just to end this post, one of the group members at this
session made an amazing stunning necklace with pink quartz and plans to give it
to his girlfriend when he proposes. There are few events in life that are as life
changing as getting married.

During
my Traineeship, I have learned more about the ways in which museums and
collections cater for visitors who are Deaf, or have a visual impairment. The
Ashmolean Museum runs interpreted tours for these audiences and I was fortunate
to assist Jude Barrett, the Museum’s Education Officer for Adults and Young People, with their delivery.

For
the British Sign Language interpreted tour, I joined a deaf group and Jude in
looking at the Museum’s temporary exhibition of Chinese paintings. Jude led the
tour, whilst a BSL Interpreter translated what was being said to the group.
What made the tour particularly engaging, was that we got to handle traditional
Japanese brushes and paper in the galleries; enabling us to understand the
various processes involved in creating these beautiful art works.

After
we had explored the paintings in the galleries, I joined the group in the
Museum’s Study Room, where we met and conversed with (with the help on the
Interpreter) members of staff involved in collection care and management, and
got to handle a selection of authentic Chinese artefacts used in painting,
dating back hundreds of years. The tour offered a fantastic multi-sensory experience
for the group who especially enjoyed going behind the scenes and seeing objects
not on public display. I also put the BSL I had learned into practice, having
small conversations with some members of the group about the objects.

Like
the BSL tour, the tour for a group of visually impaired visitors focused on the
Ashmolean’s exhibition of Chinese paintings. Before I joined the group in
exploring the paintings in the gallery, we congregated in the Museum’s
Education Studio where we spoke about the tradition of Chinese painting and
carried out some object handling. The objects had been carefully selected to
appeal to the groups’ stronger senses and included fresh bamboo and chrysanthemums,
painting tools and materials. As the group had varying degrees of visual
impairment, Jude provided a range of resources to meet the needs of each
individual. For example, some of the group had slight vision, so Jude provided
them with large bold prints of the paintings, others in the group had no
vision, so Jude ensured they had access to raised images they good feel.

Visually impaired group carrying out object handling

Following
the session in the Education Studio, we went up to the exhibition. I helped to
guide members of the group. Once in the gallery, Jude and I talked about the paintings,
what they represented and responded to queries. When talking about the
paintings, I tried to be as descriptive as possible to help those with no or
very little sight, form a mental image: I found that making links between the
paintings on display with the objects we had held previously in the Education
Studio helped with this. To increase the interaction with the paintings, the
group were able to move their fingers gently over the paintings (which were
glazed) to help them trace prominent lines and shapes.

What
I learned most from my experience of working with the Deaf and visually impaired
groups, is that tours designed for these audiences, need to be as inclusive as
possible, catering for a diverse range of needs by avoiding the assumption that
all visually impaired visitors require the same needs, and the same for Deaf
visitors. To aid with inclusion and facilitate a range of different needs, a
museum educator needs to be flexible and adaptable in their delivery, and make use
of differentiated resources to increase accessibility to museum collections. I
am currently planning the next BSL Interpreted tour at the Ashmolean, and am
looking forward to putting what I have learned into practice.

Wednesday, 14 January 2015

One of the best aspects of our Skills for the Future
traineeship is that we gain experience working with a wide variety of different
audiences. On my placement at the Ashmolean Museum, along with teaching schools
sessions and various other projects, I have been working towards leading two of
my own events, an under 5s event and a family event.

Although both events ran successfully I feel the under 5s
was the most challenging and the one where I learnt most. The first thing I did
in preparation for it was mind map anything that came to mind when I thought of
the title ‘Little Angels’ - stars, night-time, ice, snowflakes, clouds, silver
and gold. The event was to run in the week before Christmas so I knew it would
have a festive theme. Myself and Education Officer Rowan came up with hoards of
ideas, the tricky part was narrowing them down to the best few!

The craft activities I chose where angel Christmas tree
toppers and simple star shaped tree decorations. The resources for these crafts
were easy to create being simple designs, and they were adaptable to a variety
of levels. The difference of abilities in this audience is huge, so I designed
activities where children could either do some colouring, painting and gluing
and have a grown up put it together, or fully cut out and assemble it
themselves. The angels were made out of a variety of materials – card, cotton
wool, paper doilies, string, pipe cleaners and sequins – which made for a good
opportunity to explore different textures and how to attach them to each other.
There was also a designated paint table set up for the braver parents which
again allowed for the use of materials not so readily available at home.

Angel Christmas tree toppers

The crafts were enjoyed by both children and parents and
there were plenty of angels spotted flying around the Ashmolean. However I
wanted the event to be a multisensory experience and so I considered what other
elements could help achieve this. One thing which proved to be very popular was
my snow and ice foam pool. I made this by filling a paddling pool with baby
wash and water mixed with an electric whisk (with a sign making clear the
ingredients should any parents be worried) and also some ice cubes. This was an
incredibly exciting experience for the children and it also led the way for
science conversations about what ice is made from and how it forms. One parent
was overheard saying she liked the idea so much she was going to recreate it at
home!

Another key part of my event was a tour I planned and ran
in the galleries. I based it around a story as a hook for the children’s
interest and also a way of helping it make sense to them. Annie the Angel
wanted to play in the angel’s Christmas concert but she had lost her silver trumpet.
The children had to help her find it, meeting some of Annie’s angel friends
along the way. To make the experience as interactive as possible I equipped
each child with a party trumpet to toot at points in the story. This seemed
like an amazing idea before the event and it wasn’t until the start of the tour
that I realised what I had done! Giving 20 under 5s a trumpet and expecting
them to have the restraint to only toot it when they were supposed to, was a
bit of an oversight on my part. As soon as they were given out I realised it
was going to be very difficult to be heard over the din and this really
affected my introduction. It was very difficult to quieten down the group at
the bits when I needed to talk. I
thought about ways to improve this the second time round and decided to hand
the trumpets out a little later when I had already had chance to set up the
story and I could more carefully model when to use them.

Another issue I encountered during the first tour was one
of the activities I created where I made a giant cardboard snowman whose hat,
scarf, mittens, arms and nose were scattered around the gallery because of the
wind. Mr snowman was meant to need the help of the children to put his clothes
back on but to my dismay when I arrived in the gallery he had already been
fully dressed by a couple of unknowing children looking round with their
parents! I quickly grabbed the items and put them in a pile next to him! I avoided
this the second time round by hiding the snowman’s body until I arrived and
also asking the Visitor Services Assistants to keep a watchful eye on him!
Getting to do the tour twice was really good as it helped me figure out how to
adapt to problems that arise when running a session.

Assembled snowman

Other parts of the tour included a snowflake nursery
rhyme, discussions about what snow and ice are made from and searching the
gallery for the silver trumpet, finishing with everyone singing Twinkle Twinkle
Little Star. Repetition is of huge importance at that age so I designed parts
of the story with repeated refrains where the children could join in. They had
to ask each of Annie’s friends ‘Have you seen Annie’s silver trumpet?’ and when
the friend replied they weren’t sure what a trumpet sounded like they had to
demonstrate with their own trumpets, to the surprise (and sometimes alarm!) of
nearby visitors.

Aisling practicing the snowflake nursery rhyme

I think tools like this repeated refrain really helped
the children get involved with the story of the tour. I had the most amazing
feedback after and it made me so proud that it was my event. Perhaps the most rewarding bit of feedback I
had was a young girl who came to me to show me her star decoration. She pointed
to the angels on it saying they were Annie, Gabriel and Raphael, the angels
from my tour. The adult with her said “It was a beautiful morning. Very well
organised. We had a lovely time.” She then went on to comment that now when
they came back to the museum they would be able to go back to the paintings to
find Gabriel and Raphael and know what they were about. Wow!

Feedback from the event

I really felt I put my all into this event and there were
times when I thought I had pushed myself too far – like stood in the atrium of
the museum trying to give an introduction with 20 under 5s tooting party horns
and crowds gathered on the upper floors checking out what all the commotion
was. I put myself out there; leading
singing out in the middle of the galleries is something I never would have had
the confidence to do not so long ago. ‘Twinkle Twinkle’ is fine because you
know the adults will join in but ‘I’m a Little Snowman’ and ‘Five Snowflakes’
less so! When I told a friend about this she said she can’t believe how much
I’ve changed, she said ‘Imagine yourself doing that a year ago?!’ And it is
unimaginable - but that’s what working in such a supportive environment with
people who really believe in you, and encourage you to believe in yourself will
do!

Wednesday, 7 January 2015

At the University of Oxford Museum of Natural History, we are able to offer some fantastic experiences for all
our visitors, but arguably our Christmas Lectures for Year 9’s have the most potential
to be life changing.Seeing experiments
happen right in front of them in the lecture theatre and hearing from some of
the best in their field, these students are offered a chance to look at what
university education offers close up. These lectures are delivered by some of
the front runners in the field of science who are well known by their peers and
who more usually teach undergraduates and graduates.What could follow that?

However
talented the speaker, it turns out the collection of the Oxford University
Museum of Natural History is itself just as able to keep the attention of the
hard to impress teenager.Surrounded by
twenty Year 9 students recoiling from cockroaches loudly and with pantomime
gestures, I feel pretty much at home.Is
that the picture that comes to mind as the definition of success?For me, I think it is. Two hundred students came
out of the Chemistry lecture in high spirits.I hear the lads before I see them and when I ask the group “Would anyone
like to come and see some cockroaches?” They respond en masse, egging each
other on while clearly reluctant as individuals to actually touch the
insects.The noise settles as I wait for
their attention then introduce the insects.

Handling a cockroach

Curiosity
gets the better of them. Once several others have gently touched its back and
found it to feel a bit like the wooden surface of the handling table, one of
them bravely offers to hold a large cockroach.In a 2 minute encounter they have
overcome a prejudice, calmed their behaviour, bonded with the group and learnt
about the relevance of insects in biodiversity and asked relevant questions
taking responsibility for their own learning.

Museum education is not solely
about the moment of encounter with the collection, but also the reflection and
discussion of that encounter. One of the girls who had never previously come to
the museum and had never handled insects before really enjoyed the experience.
She insisted her friend film the cockroach in her hand as she didn’t want her
mum to miss out on learning about the insects. I wonder how her mum felt about
that?

I
guess there is quite a parallel with my own experience.Through
Skills for the Future, I too have had an unusual opportunity to experience
something unique in a hands-on way, and have been able to apply theoretical knowledge
about learning to real scenarios.I also
have a responsibility to ensure my own development and make the most of what is
offered and then share it in new ways.A
recent job interview showed me exactly how relevant the Skills for the Future
programme was, focusing as it did on the
skills of working as part of a wider team, being adaptable to the needs of an audience
in the moment as well as planning ahead and creating and developing a programme
and resources. I was able to give
examples of working with a wide range of audiences from Under Fives to Over
90’s and everyone in between.I could talk about working in a wide range of contexts
from a science museum DNA workshop in the lab to shadowingReminiscence OfficerHelen Fountain at a Day Centre for the elderly, to teaching a KS1 group at the Shrine of Taharqa in the Ashmolean Museum
and of course the lantern workshops which involved 200 children in nine schools.In addition, I could talk about creating
resources for all these audiences and reflect on my own learning.

Facilitating a DNA workshop at OUM

These
experiences are not unique to me of course; Aisling, Corie, Hannah, Jenny and
Rachel can equally cite their relevant experience as opportunities for work
arise for them.But while our direction
of travel in terms of our career ambition is the same, we are very different
people.Each one of us brings different
strengths and approaches, and we have learnt to make the most of that difference
too.Sharing and growing through peer
learning is a key part of our training and gives us something that is common to
all good museum educators: we share ideas and resources and lend a hand and are
extremely adaptable.Of all the
experiences I have particularly enjoyed working with the other trainees on
Outreach and In-reach activities such as Friday Live at the Ashmolean, The Need
Make Use at the Pitt Rivers Museum or
Cowley Carnival.Where non-traditional
museum audiences and these personalities combine I am always impressed by the
result which is so creative. The visitor comments show that the experience for
them is effortless and fun despite the huge amount of work behind the
scenes!

Trainees preparing for Live Friday at the Ashmolean

Trainees taking the 'museums' to the Cowley Carnival

While
each of us has much in the way of initiative we also know that pooling talent
makes for the best events and activities and enables us to achieve much more in
a short space of time than we could alone.As importantly, we have unique opportunities in Oxford to work at
different sites in different collections with different strategic priorities.We have learnt much from assisting other Education
professionals in each museum as they negotiate the daily issues that are never
on the job description, such as: “You will need to manage a group of thirty people
several of whom are in wheelchairs.They
are coming to an exhibition on the 3rd floor. The Lift can only take
one wheel chair at a time.Ensure that
every person in the group has an interesting and low stress visit” or “Manage
the expectations of a secondary school group who despite their booking
apparently thought this was a different museum with another specialism” or “A group of thirty has just arrived
unannounced and require a lesson”“A
schoolchild would like to buy one of the exhibits.”“A volunteer wishes to work with only one
activity out of three and is rejecting your proposed rota.”“Create an app for KS2 which is user
friendly, accessible to all abilities and which will be of interest to schools”
“Adapt a resource created for families to use with a primary group.Now adapt it again for under-fives.”

Before
I did the traineeship, I felt my lack of a teaching or post graduate
qualification was a barrier to gaining a role in museum education.Rejections from museum and heritage
organisations suggested that my informal experience as a volunteer did not
really count and my Heritage studies degree was almost an artefact in itself
being from 20 years previous.In
applying for the Skills for the Future Education and Outreach Traineeship I was
really looking for a way to prove to employers I could add value to their
organisation and contribute as a member of their team. The feedback from my Skills for the Future
interview showed me that the imagination, innovation and hard work I had
brought to volunteering were very welcome here at the Oxford University Museums
and Collections and would create
foundations to build upon.Through
rigorous recruiting and incredible training it is clear that Skills for the
Future Trainees are all highly committed to working in museum education and each
of us will reflect on our experiences to push the bar higher next time.

Post
Script:Mary has just accepted the role
of Lifelong Learning and Outreach Officer at Steam Museum and Lydiard Park in
Swindon.

About Me

Oxford University Museums & Collections were awarded funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to provide training for 16 people interested in pursuing a career in museum education & outreach. So far 10 trainees have completed their training and have moved on to gain employment in the sector. Our final group of 6 trainees started their training in June 2014 and will finish in June 2015. During their time with us, trainees complete three placements in 3 of the following museums and collections: Ashmolean, Pitt Rivers, Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Museum of the History of Science, Joint Museums Office, and the Botanic Garden & Harcourt Arboretum